Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

A Dollar and (My) Two Cents

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Quite a Friday we had last week, huh? Upon checking my “End of Week” Charts, I noticed some interesting behaviour and thought I’d share my observations.  Last weekend sometime, I shared a weekly chart of the US Dollar and that it was approaching its 20 week MA.  I use the 20week and 20day moving averages as basic bull/bear filters.  I’m only bullish on stocks that are above both and I’m only bearish on stocks that are below both.

I find this makes for an easy and efficient filter.  I thought that the US Dollar had reversed short of the test until I saw it after the close Friday and realized it had tested the 20week MA exactly.  Take a look. (click any chart for a larger size version)

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‘Inflation Trade’ Alive and Well

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I don’t write the title because the precious metals took off Friday on the bad jobs report. Far from it. That is what gold is supposed to do under such circumstances as its fundamentals got a boost and the perceptions of a hawkish Fed got repelled.

I write the title despite the fact that the inflation barometer, TIP/TLT, tanked and commodities were moderate, post-jobs. Yesterday we noted: Inflation Expectations Sagging, including a declining TIP/TLT and a bullish looking TLT (each a form of non-inflationary signaling). Friday they got bearisher and bullisher, respectively.

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Gold Dust

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I took a screenshot of the chart below a couple of hours ago, but precious metals (and their miners) are even weaker now. I think the junior miners could easily slip down to the green tinted area. “Precious” metals are totally stinking up the joint again, being just about the only asset on the planet that’s falling, and the miners are thus falling at an even higher speed.

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